“Below is the full script of our one-hour conversation Jenia Suponeva and myself had with ten policemen on June 18th, 2013.

Fadi Akbaş: Brother, hi, good afternoon to everyone. As one of your brothers, I would like to read you one page from this book that I have, would you let me do that? I am specialized in the field of Communications Sciences and I am really curious about your ideas.

1st. Policeman: Hey dude, they have read thousands of books to our faces for days now. Enough is enough. Thanks, go now…don’t stand here any longer.

2nd. Policeman: What was the book? I was just curious.

Fadi & Jenia: Leo Tolstoy- Be Like A Child

2nd. Policeman: What is this? Do you not have a Turkish author? No, we don’t want it.

3rd. Policeman: Wait, wait. Let him read, we got used to it anyway. Come brother, sit here and read. Yet, hurry up, our shift is going to end soon.

Fadi: Ok, thank you. (I started reading and with each line their faces turned red. We could not record this since they agreed that we establish this communication without any recoding. We went to our discussion phase when I finished reading.)

I ask you to tell me sincerely… What is your real perspective on these events? Do you find it just to brutally crackdown on peaceful protestors -like us- who don’t burn or vandalize, don’t get involved in provocations, and had started these protests with merely reading books. Are you aware of the fact that we are at these square to defend your rights as well?

Ok my brother, you may be right but you define yourselves as environmentalists yet destroyed and burnt it all. You allowed terrorists to join you and put up their flags. You wrote the slogans and hung the pictures of those terrorist groups everywhere! Since you could not prevent them, we had to do it. This, I think, is not unreasonable at all.

Fadi & Jenia: Ok, with this statement then you also agree that we warned and tried to prevent the factionist terrorist groups and those who vandalized, right?

Yes, but you fell short of doing this, you could not show enough reaction to the factionist terrorists. So we intervened.

Fadi: Ok, brother. Why then, the police attacked me when I was carrying an injured to the first aid infirmary? Is this how you dissociate the terrorists from peaceful protestors?

3rd. Policeman: The police organization is full of impertinent, rude and vulgar people. Nobody can deny that. The psychology of the policemen at the frontline is also deteriorated. What they have done to you is wrong. They should not have done that. Hey, sister, you- you look like a tourist, where are you from?
Jenia: Yes, I am from Ukraine. I have been living here for the last 10 years. I love this land and this country. Besides, I am proud of standing together with my friends in this just struggle- with the ones who are right in their demands.

5th. Policeman: Dude, do you not have protests or whatnot in your own country? What the hell are you doing here? Go back to your country. Are we gonna deal with you too!

Jenia: Of course there are protests in my country too, but I love this country and I would like to live here, if I have a chance to contribute to the change for the good.

5th. Policeman: If this is how you think, well done sister! Take it with my blessing!

Fadi: Well my brother… Do you not have any opportunity to ponder on things and question the situation? I mean, the brutal police attack caused the death of three protestors and 1 policeman. There are more than 7000 who were wounded. Would things not had gotten resolved peacefully without all these?

6th. Policeman: What the hell are you making up! This discussion is getting more and more fucked up. Stop this rubbish! What dead are you talking about? We don’t know any protestors who died. Do not annoy us! We just know that there is a policeman friend who became a martyr. Nobody else died! Did you go there and witness it with your own eyes? Do not fool the people!

(At this point, both Jenia and I were shocked. The police did not have any information about the dead or the number of people injured. They did not want to believe us thinking that these are all plots.)

Fadi: Brother, you are kidding us, right? If you would like, give me your e-mail address and I could send you the information all coming from objective sources. I could send you the name and city of our brothers who died, all the information about their families, even the pictures and video footage of the police attack during their funeral.

7th. Policeman (police superintendent): Don’t make fool of people dude! I am a university graduate. There are no deaths or so!

Fadi & Jenia: Let us get your e-mail address and send you the information. Look we are not afraid to give you our contact details.

(None of them were willing to let us contact them. I guess they were afraid to learn the truth.) Jenia: May I have a look at the baton you are holding?

2nd. Policeman: There you go, of course. This does nothing, it does not hurt. It is all exaggeration, here take it and see it for yourself.

(Jenia took the baton and hit herself on the arm very lightly. There is still a bruise on her arm.)

Jenia: Does this NOT hurt? How could you NOT see how many people got injured only by a baton-hit at this crackdown? There are thousands of people bruised because you hit them with your batons. I have many friends who are black and blue all over their body.

(No response from this policeman.)

8th. Policeman: Stop it. We are highly educated, there is no need to read or have a discussion. Let us disperse friends, the shift is over and we will be here again at 8 tomorrow.
Fadi: Just a minute… If you are saying that you are highly educated, then what you just said now is evidence against it. To say there is no need for discussion or reading books means that you refuse to see the mistakes. I am asking you then, why are you here my friend?

8th. Policeman: For you to walk here freely hand in hand with your girlfriend. Besides, this is my job. All I care is my bread-and-butter and I earn my life with my sweat.

Fadi: I have taken my girlfriend to the hospital many times because of your disproportionate brutality. Is this how you protect us? Shortly, you are telling me that you are doing this job because of money, right?

8th. Policeman: Exactly. I care about my salary and this is why I am here.

Fadi: See, you do not want to see this difference. You are here for money and I, Jenia and many more like us are here for our ideas. And ideas are priceless.

(That policeman marched away from us real fast and got on his service shuttle.)

9th. Policeman: Brother, you now speak very well, you approached us and talked to us without any fear. OK, as far as what you are telling us is concerned, your protests are very meaningful and logical. But are you now going to join those who are standing over there?

(At that moment the silent protest of standing was taking place in front of Ataturk Cultural Center and ten more policemen came before I answered his question.)

10th. Policeman: Of course he will go, my friend. These guys do not have any harm to anybody. None of us can realize this. Dude, how could a standing man be harmful to anyone? When you solve this question in your mind, you will realize the mistake here. Had I not told you all these subtle problems behind each issue even before these protests began? And you had been agreeing with me, right? This is something like one of those things.

(We got out of the way and these two policemen started such a discussion that they were having a real debate. After a while, the same policeman talked turning to us:)

You and your friends are doing good things my friend. There are ignorant and remorseless people among us –like everywhere else- who interpret everything wrongly. I was watching you from a distance, you first wanted to talk to other policemen and they scolded you to dismiss you, right? This is an example. This is THEIR mistake. But also we are an aide, under command. We do not have an authority to question what is being experienced. They command us and we fulfil them.

Fadi & Jenia: We are protesting in the squares to question these wrongdoings and problems also on behalf of you my brother. Feel better.

10th. Policeman: Thank you my brother, we are aware of this but I wish everybody felt the same as us. Take care of yourselves. Do not get involved in dangerous stuff. Come and talk to us whenever you wish. I have got to go before I miss the shuttle. What was the title of that book?

(This was the end of our one-hour conversation. Four policemen wanted to know the title of the book and promised that they would read it. We are willing and determined to go on our activity of talking and establishing a dialogue with the policemen, listening to their ideas and reading books to them.

Thank you very much! Please share this conversation with your friends now.”

Source: Facebook

19 June 2013

This post is also available in: Turkish